The head of the International Olympic Committee said Monday he was “very concerned” about unrest in Tibet, but played down talk of a boycott of the Beijing Games. The extraordinary comments by IOC President Jacques Rogge illustrate how the largest anti-government protests in Tibet in two decades are continuing to rock the Olympic movement, four months ahead of the summer games. People protesting China's policies on Tibet and other issues have repeatedly attempted to disrupt the Olympic torch relay, bringing new publicity to long-standing complaints about the communist regime's human rights record. “I'm very concerned with the international situation and what's happening in Tibet,” Rogge said Monday at a meeting of the IOC and national Olympic committees in Beijing. “The torch relay has been targeted. The IOC has expressed its serious concern and calls for a rapid peaceful resolution in Tibet,” Rogge said in a brief speech at the meetings' opening ceremony. Security officials had to extinguish the Olympic torch at least twice on Monday during a chaotic relay through Paris where thousands of pro-Tibet protesters tried to block its path. On Sunday, demonstrators tried to board a torch relay bus in London and attempted to grab the torch during the procession. One protester tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. While Rogge made no direct reference to the protests, he denounced violence “for whatever reason,” as “not compatible with the values of the torch relay or the Olympic Games.” Rogge acknowledged that “some politicians have played with the idea of boycotts,” but added: “As I speak today, however, there is no momentum for a generalized boycott. We need the unity of the Olympic movement to help us overcome the difficulties. Our major responsibility is for offering good games to the athletes who deserve them,” Rogge said. “The athletes deserve and the world expects it, and the unity of the Olympic movement will deliver it,” he said. Rogge's comments follow similar statements over the weekend by the head of an organization overseeing 205 national Olympic committees. “Any politician who is pushing for a boycott is committing a serious error,” Mario Vazquez Rana, the president the Association of National Olympic Committees, said Saturday in Beijing. “For me a total boycott, a partial boycott, is totally out of the question,” he said. Despite Rogge's comments, the IOC has repeatedly said it would not become involved in the politics of the host nation. Among the attendees at Monday's meeting, IOC coordination commission member Alex Gilady said he expected the pressure to ease after the Paris and San Francisco legs of the torch relay.Athletes seek guidance The IOC was asked on Monday to give clear guidance to athletes on how much freedom they would have to discuss Tibet and other issues before, during and after the Beijing Olympics. Athletes, who are coming under increasing pressure to speak out on human rights issues, are banned from making any political statements or gestures at Olympic ceremonies or venues under the terms of the Olympic Charter. “It is very important that athletes can prepare quietly and peacefully for the Games,” German fencer Claudia Bokel told the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). “But the athletes are also concerned about what is going on in Tibet and they want to comply with the Olympic Charter.” __
